Action urged on defiant senior officials

THE Public Service Commission

(PSC) has asked ministers and MECs to take action against hundreds of senior officials who have failed to disclose their financial interests.

In a report tabled in Parliament this week the commission said 722 senior officials including directorsgeneral, deputy directors-general, chief directors and directors had not disclosed their financial interests, which was in violation of the law.

Out of the 722 senior officials who did not disclose their financial interests, 19 were directors-general from national and provincial departments, 56 were deputy directors-general from the two spheres of government, 133 were chief directors and 514 were directors from the national departments and provinces.

“After such consultation the executive authority must consider taking disciplinary action against these SMS (senior management service) members,” the report states, without naming the officials concerned.

This is in violation of the law which requires senior officials to disclose financial interests to prevent corruption in state contracts.

“The scrutiny of the financial disclosure forms revealed that a total of 722 senior management service members in both the provincial and national departments did not disclose their directorships in private and public companies,” states the report.

The report states that the 722 senior officials constitute 37% of members of the senior management in national and provincial departments. The report also states that another group of close to 2000 senior officials had conflicts of interest.

“The PSC advised the executive authorities to ensure that the involvement of these SMS members in companies is closely and tightly monitored in order to avoid such involvement leading to conflicts of interest,” reads the report.